In the use of roof shingles, is common to cut the shingles for use at various places and this is usually done by hand utilizing a utility knife. More recently, the extensive use of roof vents has necessitated sections of the shingles to be cut for placement over the vents at the gable of the roof. Unless the sections are cut uniformly, the appearance will not be aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, in order that the proper overlapping of cut sections of shingle may be achieved without irregular edges, it has been proposed that the sections be trapezoidal in shape with the narrower portions being overlapped by the wider portions. It has heretofore been suggested that such ridge caps can be cut from a shingle utilizing a cutter and sequentially orienting the shingle with respect to a cutter blade to provide a ridge cap having non parallel-transverse axis to provide trapezoidal-shaped ridge caps. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,513,640, 1,918,104, 1,981,695, 2,090,548.
Accordingly among the objectives of the present invention are to provide a shingle ridge cap cutter which effectively cuts uniform sections from the length of shingle which are identical in shape and are preferably trapezoidal in shape; which is compact light weight and easy to use; which includes provision for preventing injury to the hands of the worker; which can be locked for safe transport; and which includes indicia for centering the shingles to conserve material.
In accordance with the invention, a shingle ridge cap cutter utilized for cutting uniform sections from roof shingles comprises a frame along which a shingle is guided to a manually operated cutter that comprises spaced blades that are moved to sever a section of the shingle. The cutter blades are provided in spaced-apart, non parallel relationship so that a combined rectangular and trapezoidal-shaped ridge cap is made by single movement of the cutter with the roof shingle positioned so that the cutter blades are aligned with the slots along one edge of the shingle. Provision is made for operation to prevent injury to the hands of the worker.
More specifically the shingle ridge cap cutter comprises of a frame with means for guiding a shingle to a cutter comprising a fixed base on the frame and a movable base pivoted to the fixed base. Spaced blades are fixed on the base and cooperate with spaced blades on the movable portion which can be manually moved to progressively cut a uniform section from the shingle. The cutter blades are provided in spaced-apart, non parallel relationship so that a combined rectangular and trapezoidal-shaped ridge cap is made by single movement of the cutter with the roof shingle positioned so that the cutter blades are aligned with the slots along one edge of the shingle. Provision is made for preventing injury to the worker. In one form an interlock is provided which requires one hand to manipulate the lock and the other hand to manipulate the movable portion of the cutter. In another form a pair of guard plates is provided, one plate on each side of the cutter which are yieldingly urged by gravity so that they fill the space when the cutter is opened and prevent the hand of the worker from entering between the movable and fixed cutters.